4/9/13 - Wednesday

I've tried lunch break gaming a few times before but AA usually got the better of me and would end up just walking around looking then go back...feeling rotten. Since I got up this morning I was feeling chipper and weather was great so I went out lunch break to give it another go.

While walking along I got barged from behind by a bloody jogger. It made me angry, not a good state for approaching I thought, but with hindsight I think it actually helped release some of the tension.

I chickened out on a few then noticed this slender cute girl in a summer dress walking beside me about 6 feet away. We were walking about the same speed (a light stroll) and I could see she wasn't rushing like the workers, so she must be a tourist, American I thought for some reason.

When I got close enough and slightly in front of her I lifted my sunglasses and said "excuse me". She turned her head to look and lifted her sunglasses as well, then I said "I saw you walking along there and just wanted to tell you I think you are really cute"

We were still walking side by side at this time but a bit slower.

She said in a cute American accent "Oh that's nice, thank you". It sounded warm and genuine. I said "no problem". Then she put her sunglasses back down, speeded up her walking slightly and walked on.

A short while later I passed a hot babe with great legs sitting on a bench flicking through a magazine. I walked passed, bottled it, then 50 yards on I thought, fuck it, I'm going back. I went back and sat down next to her and said hi. She said hi back. It was a lot of work trying to get a conversation going. The silences seemed like minutes but were probably 4 or 5 seconds. But she seemed to be enjoying it. I didn't get the impression she had any intention of moving away and she responded well to everything I said. She just didn't give me much to go on.

There was some small talk and it progressed a bit. She wasn't a tourist, she worked in the city but lived outside (same as me). There was some common ground.

I was running out of steam, so I tried for the number, saying I had to get back to work and was late. She said she was 'with someone'. I take it she meant she had a bf. So I said it was nice meeting her anyway and left.

There were a few possible 'bench approaches' after that on the way back but I was still thinking about the previous one so didn't bother.

On the whole I felt quite positive. I got the feeling that these were still quite nervy first steps but I learned a lot from them. I can feel my brain slowly rewiring itself to the belief there is nothing to fear from being bold.

I reminded myself as well that I'm not looking for any outcomes at this stage only looking to be completely present and curious about how the process works in practice (I've read all the books).

I know it wouldn't be good for me to overanalyse these approaches at the moment.

I'm sure that as I relax a bit more at each one it'll get better and the outcomes will sort themselves out.

I've challenged myself to double it to four approaches tomorrow.